Cigar lighter



Aug. 23, 1938. I COCHRANE 2,127,551

CIGAR LIGHTER Filed Jan. 11, 1957 Fig.1 4 5 2/ INVENTOR lierz 6'.Cock/"am,

ATT EY Patented Aug. 23, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ProductsCorporation,

Bridgeport, Conn, a a

corporation of Connecticut Application January 11, 1937, Serial No.119,912

6 Claims.

This invention relates to cigar lighters of the type in which anigniting unit is mounted on a holding device for complete removal foruse.

Usually in such devices the igniting unit is comparatively short andstubby, having at one end a heating element which is red hot when theigniting unit is removed from the holding device. With some devices, theheating element is in an exposed position on the end of the ignitingdevice.

It is frequently desired that the igniting unit when brought toincandescence be passed from one person to another as for instance bythe driver or the occupant of the front seat of an automobile in whichthe cigar lighter is installed, to an occupant of the rear seat.

With cigar lighters as heretofore proposed this has been a dangeroustask, for in transferring the lighter from the hand of one person tothat of another either or both might be burned by the hot heatingelement, unless great care is exercised, and this is not usuallypossible when the lighter is being passed by the driver.

The danger incident to passing the igniting unit from one person toanother has been largely overcome by the present invention, by theprovision of a finger-piece or handle in the igniting unit of such sizeand shape that there is enough room on the handle for two pairs ofgrasping fingers. Hence the passer may still retain the igniting unit inhis grasp while the receiver grips the free surface of the handle withhis fingers.

Moreover, according to the present invention, the handle is so disposedon the igniting unit and so shaped that a person grasping the same withthe intention of passing it will grasp the handle on one side leavingthe other side for the other persons fingers.

These features of the invention are accomplished by providing on the endof the igniting unit an elongate knob or handle preferably flat and nottoo thick, so that it is easily grasped, and this handle preferablyextends in opposite directions from the axis of the igniting unit, andat each side of the center has suflicient surface to receive on oppositefaces thereof the index finger and thumb of the person passing orreceiving the igniting unit,

Other features and advantages will hereinafter appear.

In the accompanying drawing:

Figure l is a side view of a cigar lighter partly in section showing anembodiment of this in vention.

Fig. 2 is a front view of the same.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing how the igniting unit may be heldwhen lighting a cigarette.

Fig. 4 shows how two pairs of grasping fingers may simultaneously engagethe handle of the igniting unit as when passing the same by one personto another.

While the present invention is applicable to all types of electric cigarlighters in which the igniting unit is mounted on a holding device forremoval for use, it is most advantageous when employed with a cigarlighter in which there is a relatively short and stubby body portion in,usually cylindrical in form, having at one end an igniting unit llincluding a coil of resistance wire 12, and having at the other end aknob by means of which the igniting unit is operated and carried tobring the resistance wire l2 to the end of a cigar or cigarette toignite the same.

In such cigar lighters, the igniting unit is supported by a holdingdevice E3 in the form of a well which may be clamped to an instrumentboard l4, when used in an automobile, by a clamping member 15. Currentis supplied to the resistance wire l2 when the igniting unit is in theholding device through the instrument board and through a wire I6connected to a binding post H on the holding device 13.

When the igniting unit is pushed inwardly of the holding device, theresistance wire I2 is energized by contact means well known in the art,and, after it has been energized sufficiently long to make the wire l2incandescent, the igniting unit is removed for use.

The resistance Wire l2 has sufficient mass to retain its heat longenough to permit several cigarettes to be lighted without returning theigniting unit to the holding device to be reheated.

Igniting units for such cigar lighters were usually provided with roundknobs, generally about the same diameter as the body ill, by means ofwhich the igniting unit was pushed into the holding device to cause itto be energized, and by means of which the igniting unit was transportedfrom the holding device for use. knobs or handles serve their purposewell when the igniting unit is to be retained in the hands of the personcarrying it, but, even under such circumstances, there is the everpresent danger of the generally round knob slipping from the fingersgrasping the same.

If the igniting unit, as heretofore proposed, was to be passed from thegrasp of one person to that of another, as is frequently desired, sothat a person riding in the back seat of an automobile may have the useof the cigar lighter, this could be done only with extreme danger ofeither the passer or the receiver, or both, being burned by the heatingelement because a sufficient gripping surface was not provided on thehandle for the convenient simultaneous engagement of the fingers of theperson passing and of the person receiving the igniting unit, andbecause it was dangerous for the person receiving the igniting unit tograsp the same at the relatively short body portion In.

These difficulties have been obviated by the present invention by theprovision of a handle having thereon sufficient gripping surface for theconvenient simultaneous engagement of two sets of fingers.

Accordingly, the handle of the present invention, in the embodimentherein illustrated, is provided with two opposite major surfaces 19 and20, each of which is capable of having laid upon it simultaneously twofingers, more properly, two thumbs or two fingers.

The thickness of the handle between the gripping surfaces IS and 20 issuch that two fingers, or a finger and a thumb, of one hand mayconveniently grasp the surfaces 19 and 2|] and hold between them thebody of the handle.

In the form. of the invention shown, the handle I8 is disposed at rightangles to the axis of the body I!) of the cigar lighter, and the handleis further so disposed as to extend in two direc tions from the axis ofthe body In, thereby producing opposite wing portions 2| nd 22. As soarranged, when the igniting unit is tobe taken from the holding device13, it will very naturally be grasped by the user as shown in Fig. 3,that is to say, by the thumb and forefinger of the users hand engagingthe opposite surfaces 19 and 20 of the wing 22, leaving the oppositesurfaces l9 and 20 of the wing 2| free to be engaged by the forefingerand thumb of the hand of the person to whom it is desired to pass theigniting unit.

The handle [8 is preferably connected by a neck 23 to the body portionID of the igniting unit, and this neck 23 is preferably so long and ofsuch reduced cross section that heating of the handle through the bodyof the igniting unit is reduced substantially, and danger of the personwho grasps the handle being burned by inadvertently contacting with theigniting unit or the heating wire 12 thereof is reduced to a minimum.

By placing the handle I8 on the axis of the igniting unit so thatportions project in opposite directions therefrom and so that a persongrasping the handle would naturally grasp it on one side or the other ofthe axis, the tendency in passing the device from one person to anotheris to swing the igniting unit downwardly as shown in Fig. 4, to aposition where the reverse hand may easily grasp the exposed orunoccupied portion of the surface of the handle I8.

The handle 18 may have any suitable or desirable shape otherwise, and itmay be ornamented as desired. As shown, the surfaces l9 and 20 aresubstantially fiat. They may be convex or concave if desired; but, ifmade convex, the convexity is preferably so slight as to avoid danger ofthe portion of the handle engaged by the fingers slipping or turning inthe fingers.

To move the igniting unit to energized position, it is customary for theoperator to press in on the handle portion. of the cigar lighter,

g and, accordingly, the front surface 24 of the handle is made broadenough to be conveniently engaged by the users finger or thumb, as shownin Fig. 1. This front surface may be entirely fiat or curved, asdesired. As shown, it is curved in one direction, and the top surface 25and bottom surface 26 are inclined so as to avoid sharp corners whichmight hurt the users hand if the handle were accidentally struck.

Variations and modifications may be made within the scope of thisinvention and, portions of the improvements may be used without others.

I claim:

1. A cigar lighter igniting unit of the removable type having acylindrical body portion; a heating element at one end of the bodyadapted to be brought to incandescence for use; and a handle on theother end of the body having wings extending a substantial distancebeyond the diameter of the body in opposite directions transversely ofthe axis of the body portion and having surfaces of substantial grippingarea for easy engagement by two pairs of fingers simultaneously, onepair at each side of the axis of the igniting unit to provide for thetransfer of the igniting unit from the hand of one person to anotherwithout necessitating finger contact with the body of the igniting unit.

2. A cigar lighter igniting unit of the removable type having acylindrical body portion; a heating element at one end of the bodyadapted to be brought to incandescence for use; and a handle connectedto the other end of the body by a long, narrow neck and having wingsextending in opposite directions transversely of the axis of the bodyportion and having surfaces of sub stantial gripping area on oppositesides in planes parallel with the axis of the body portion for easyengagement by two pairs of fingers simultaneously, one pair on each sideof said axis.

3. In a cigar lighter, a removable and transportable igniting membercomprising a substantially elongate body; a heating element carried bythe body at one end thereof; and a pair of manually engageable wings atthe other end of the body extending in opposite directions substantiallytransversely of the axis thereof and for a substantial distancetherefrom, each of said wings having surfaces of substantial grippingarea for easy engagement by a pair of fingers so that the ignitingmember can be transferred from one hand to another without touch ing theigniting member body or heating element.

4. In a cigar lighter, a removable and transportable igniting membercomprising a substantially elongate body; a heating element carried bythe body at one end thereof; and an elongate handle attached at itscenter by a long neck of reduced diameter to the other end of the bodyso that its axis is substantially perpendicular to the axis of the body,each of the ends of said handle being of suiiicient gripping area so asto be easily engaged and held by a pair of fingers so that the ignitingmember can be transferred from one hand to another without touching theigniting member body or heating element.

5. The invention as defined in claim 4, in which the handle is flat andsubstantially symmetrical so that its principal plane of symmetrycontains the axis of the body.

6. A cigar lighter igniting unit of the removable type having acylindrical body portion; a heating element at one end of the bodyadapted to be brought to incandescence for use; and a handle on theother end of the body comprising a substantially long neck of reducedcross-section. and substantially long, flat, gripping surfaces extendingtransversely on opposite sides of the neck for a substantial distance toprovide a plurality of gripping surfaces which are adequate to begripped by a pair of fingers on each side.

BERT G. COCHRANE.

